Thursday's letters: Bad medicine

Published: Thursday, August 1, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, July 31, 2013 at 7:08 p.m.

To the editor: Mike Tower’s July 21 column claiming Cal Thomas’ column to be wrong about the Affordable Care Act is, itself, wrong.

Who ever heard of a government program that increases services and reduces costs as claimed by Barack Obama? The supposed cost reductions come from a $716 billion reduction to Medicare Advantage together with reduced payment schedules for doctors and hospitals.

Already, many doctors are refusing to accept Medicare patients due to “approved” payments that hardly cover their costs. Lower payment caps of Obamacare will drive doctors from the field or force them to perfunctory, delayed or assembly-line treatment of patients.

Having personally experienced the U.K.’s National Health Service in 1965, when it was new, I can attest to Thomas’ reported characterization. Thomas’ column suggests no notable improvement since.

The crowded wards, the spartan facilities and the impersonal care were in extreme contrast to any hospital I have been in or visited in the U.S., and this was Glasgow’s premier Royal Hospital. The only doctor I saw during my several days in a crowded ward of at least 30 patients was one attending a profusely bleeding knife victim, and the doctor my company hired to read my X-rays.

The ACA is bad medicine!

Jerome (Jack) Lorenz

Mills River

Renewable energy

To the editor: Renewable energy bypasses natural gas worldwide by 2016. A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) states that global power generation from hydro, wind, solar and other renewable sources will exceed that of gas and be twice that of nuclear power by 2016.

Renewable power is expected to increase by 40 percent in the next five years, according to the IEA’s medium-term Renewable Energy Market Report published in June in New York. Renewables are the fastest growing power generation sector and will make up one-fourth of the global power mix by 2018, up from an estimated 20 percent in 2011. The share of wind, solar, bioenergy and geothermal power generation will double by 2018. As costs fall, renewable power will stand on its own versus fossil fuel generation.

We still need long-term policies to meet society’s goals. Nuclear, coal and gas plants are not the answer.

<p>To the editor: Mike Tower’s July 21 column claiming Cal Thomas’ column to be wrong about the Affordable Care Act is, itself, wrong.</p><p>Who ever heard of a government program that increases services and reduces costs as claimed by Barack Obama? The supposed cost reductions come from a $716 billion reduction to Medicare Advantage together with reduced payment schedules for doctors and hospitals.</p><p>Already, many doctors are refusing to accept Medicare patients due to approved payments that hardly cover their costs. Lower payment caps of Obamacare will drive doctors from the field or force them to perfunctory, delayed or assembly-line treatment of patients.</p><p>Having personally experienced the U.K.’s National Health Service in 1965, when it was new, I can attest to Thomas’ reported characterization. Thomas’ column suggests no notable improvement since.</p><p>The crowded wards, the spartan facilities and the impersonal care were in extreme contrast to any hospital I have been in or visited in the U.S., and this was Glasgow’s premier Royal Hospital. The only doctor I saw during my several days in a crowded ward of at least 30 patients was one attending a profusely bleeding knife victim, and the doctor my company hired to read my X-rays.</p><p>The ACA is bad medicine!</p><p><em>Jerome (Jack) Lorenz</em></p><p><em>Mills River</em></p><h3>Renewable energy</h3>
<p>To the editor: Renewable energy bypasses natural gas worldwide by 2016. A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) states that global power generation from hydro, wind, solar and other renewable sources will exceed that of gas and be twice that of nuclear power by 2016.</p><p>Renewable power is expected to increase by 40 percent in the next five years, according to the IEA’s medium-term Renewable Energy Market Report published in June in New York. Renewables are the fastest growing power generation sector and will make up one-fourth of the global power mix by 2018, up from an estimated 20 percent in 2011. The share of wind, solar, bioenergy and geothermal power generation will double by 2018. As costs fall, renewable power will stand on its own versus fossil fuel generation.</p><p>We still need long-term policies to meet society’s goals. Nuclear, coal and gas plants are not the answer.</p><p><em>Barbara A. Barnett</em></p><p><em>Hendersonville</em></p>